Please note – this project will take TWO DAYS to complete.
You have to let the image dry with the transfer medium on it, so keep that in
mind, if you are like me and NEVER read ahead on directions

1. Make sure you have
an LASER printer copy of your photo for this to work. A lab printed photo or an
INKJET printer copy will not work (according to the website). If you want room to add doodles or paint to
the outside you want to pick a picture with central detail to highlight and a
fair amount of negative space.

2. Using your sponge brush apply a thick coat of the Modge
Podge over the image. You don’t need the liquid to puddle, but you want it to
cover the image so you can’t see it .

3. Flip it over and lay it sticky side down onto the blank
canvas. Use your fingers (or your scraper) to smooth out air bubbles and make
sure it is good and stuck. You’ll see later I did not take enough care on the
edges and they lifted off. Not a big deal to me, but just shows I did not take
enough care in those areas.

4. Now the hard part
– leave it along for 24 hours !! Ugh. I hate waiting. I also don’t like
projects that take too long, so OF COURSE I wanted to pull it up early. But,
don’t. If it doesn’t cure thoroughly it won’t transfer the image.

5. Here we go! When fully dry and cured the paper will feel
stiff on the canvas. Now we will work to
remove the white paper and show the picture. I did this is three parts:

- I
peeled off the topmost layer of paper. I
just used my fingers for this part, and honestly I may have pulled a bit too
much off. As you can see in the image here some of my wedding picture pulled
off the canvas. You just want to peel a thin layer of the paper

- Next
I used my spray bottle get the white paper wet, then I used my sponge and
scraper to get that paper all the way off. WORK GENTLY. You might think (as I
did) that you will have to scrape to get the paper off, but all you’ll do is
scrape the image off the canvas. You can see spots above my parents’ heads
where that happened.(top pic below)

- (2nd photo) Here you see what it looks like at this point, 95% of the
paper is off, but there is still a white ‘haze’ in spots. That is paper
residue. Let the canvas sit and dry for a bit, then spray with water and use
your fingers to GENTLY scrape off the residue. See how clear and bright it is
now! (3rd photo) As you can see- a bit of the image scraped off the edges. I definitely
think I was too rough when scraping off the paper. I could have redone it, but
I decided just to fill in the empty spots with paint. Like any new medium the
more you use it the better result you will get.

6. Let your canvas dry again. Now it is time to gather your
paint, embellishments and decide what you are going to do! Every canvas is
going to be unique and everyone has their own idea for what they want to do,
but I have a few tips for helping you achieve the look you want.

- Start
with a lighter touch and lighter color than you think you might want. You can
always add more paint and a darker color, but you can't take it away!

- I
think colors work well in groups of three: a main color and two accents. Here I
used: gray, green and coral. You can add more colors if you want, but this is a
good starting point!

- I
used this simple rose shape to accent the corners, and it is an easy shape you
can replicate. Just get a bit of color on your brush, put the tip of your brush
on the paper and move in a spiral pattern. I mixed the coral with a bit of hot
pink and just swirled them together to make it pop. I also added a bit of white
to the green of the leaves.

- I
used a gray that matched the color of the car in the photo. I used that to add
color to the spots that rubbed off. I think it gives a bit of interest around
the edge, and this was a case of ‘go light’. It would have be really easy to
add too much paint, but I was careful to step back occasionally and look at the
whole image.

7. To finish off my canvas I used glitter glue to accent the
flowers, hot glue to add a few pearls and then a paint pen to script a name and
date.

Have you ever used your handwriting on a DIY project? A lot of people are
intimidated to do that, but here’s a couple of tips to hopefully help you achieve
the look you see in your head:

- Different
pens will give you different looks, but you don’t need an expensive brush or
pen to get started. Try writing with a Sharpie! Then a paint pen, then maybe a
gel pen, then a brush and paint! Each one works differently and the ONLY way to
be more comfortable is to give it a little time and PRACTICE.

- Hold your pen/brush and use a light touch, pressing too hard can cause too much ink or paint and might not be the look you are going for! Being
comfortable means you will be more confident and get the result you see in your
mind. That’s the secret.

Here you can see my pretty canvas hung up on my wall – I
just love it. This was a really fun medium to work in and I definitely want to
try it again. I thought this might be fun to do with a collage of pictures. Or maybe paint the canvas, then transfer a photo?

//

Are you inspired to try this out for yourself? I hope so! If you do, PLEASE come find me and share a picture, I love seeing what other folks make! Find me on Instagram HERE and Facebook HERE @hotwheelsandglueguns. Also, make sure you follow all the fun over on the National DIY Day site. Almost every day there is something fun on the blog and the FB page.